Hatchet

Hey!
This review or the book summary part was done for a project at school, so thats why it might be a little different then the other reviews, but i hope you enjoy anyway!

Title: Hatchet
Author: Gary Paulsen
Pages: 208
Genre: Survival, Fiction, Adventure
Publisher: Bradbury Press
Release Date: September. 30, 1987
Reading Level: Young Adult and Up
*Caution Many Many Many Spoilers*

Synopsis 
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson is on his way to visit his father when the single-engine plane in which he is flying crashes. Suddenly, Brian finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a tattered Windbreaker and the hatchet his mother gave him as a present -- and the dreadful secret that has been tearing him apart since his parent''s divorce. But now Brian has no time for anger, self pity, or despair -- it will take all his know-how and determination, and more courage than he knew he possessed, to survive

                                       My Thoughts 

Brian Robenson (the main character and the point of view we are reading) a thirteen year old boy from New York City, is the only passenger on a bush plane headed toward the oil fields of Canada. We’ve all been there right? Oh, not right. Brian is on his way to spend the summer with his father, and he’s feeling shattered about his parent’s recent divorce. Brian doesn’t have much time to dwell on his unhappy family situation, because the pilot; the only other passenger on the plane, suddenly suffers a heart attack and dies. (Holy game-changer, Superman)

With a combination of good luck, clear thinking, and a suspension of disbelief, Brian manages to crash land the plane into a lake and escape with some bruises and a tattered windbreaker. After a nice nap Brian realizes he needs to find food, and shelter so he can last until he’s rescued.

With his trusty sidekick hatchet at his side, Brian finds some berries, constructs a shelter from a half constructed lean to (this kid definitely was a boy scout), and meets a bear in the woods. Throughout the chapters are Brian’s thoughts and memories of his family, and the “secret” which is led us to his parents’ divorce. His mother had been involved with another man, Brian is attacked by a porcupine, learns how to make a fire, makes a fishing spear from a tree branch, and finds food… Not good food but food. (Try not to read this book while eating, it may induce vomiting)

Brian is counting on rescuers showing up at any time. When a rescue plane does fly overhead, though, Brian misses it, seeing it just in time to watch it fade into the distance. (Ouch.) Brian’s reaction, understandably, isn’t pretty. We’re talking screaming, tears, absolute despair. He is not a happy camper.

As time passes, though, Brian recovers his I CAN DO THIS attitude, and become even tougher then he was before. He constructs a bow and arrow, learns to fish, hunts birds and rabbits, and reinforces his shelter against the elements. He’s attacked by a skunk… then a moose later on (even though the attacks are pretty hilarious, I feel bad for this guy, animals just don’t like him.) And if eating raw turtle eggs and fighting off wild animals weren’t enough. Brian then has to deal with a tornado. Geez. On the plus side, he’s going to be able to write one heck of a “What I Did for Summer Vacation” paper, that’s for sure.

The tornado shakes things up so much that the crashed planes, which had been at the bottom of the lake, ends up sticking out of the water. Brian (again with the help of his handy hatchet) is able to get into the plane and recover the dead pilot’s emergency survival pack. In the pack Brian finds a sleeping bag, a compass, cooking tools, lighters, matches, bandages, a rifle; it’s basically like a great big caveman Christmas package.

Also in the bag is an emergency transmitter, but Brian put is aside after flipping the switch on it, a few times and hearing nothing. He assumes that it was broken when the plane crashed. But no it wasn’t broken. Suddenly a plane appears, circling and landing on the lake. The pilot steps out and tells brian that he picked up the signal from the emergency transmitter. In the end Brian is ablr to get back to New York and doesn’t misuse any of his daily resources (i.e. water, food, shelter, etc) again because he knows what how hard it is to live without them.

This whole book summary was actually written for literature circles for school last year. One of my best friends and I had written this together, though she wrote most of it. So that’s why its longer then I usually would post and spoils pretty much the whole book, IM AM VERY VERY VERY SORRY FOR THAT! But personally if I had a choice I wouldn’t have read this book, because it was for school though I was kind of forced to read it. Surprisingly though I did end up enjoying the book, it wasn’t how I thought it would be. The book was a little predictable and cliché though, but those are just my thoughts. I would give this book 3.5 nail polish bottles out of 5 nail polish bottles.

If you have read this book I would love to hear your thoughts on this book! Email me at coverstoryreviews@gmail.com or comment what you thought of it down below. Remember to subscribe via email, follow us on Bloglovin’, like and comment this post! We Love You ALL! 

- Princess (Jen) ♕

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The Chaos of Stars

Hello lovelies!

Veterans Day or Remembrance Day is this upcoming Monday; a time to remember those who have been lost in war, be thankful for those who have sacrificed themselves for our freedom, hope for a better future, etc… we had a Remembrance day assembly at school on Friday and throughout most of the assembly I had tears in my eyes. I have never actually known anybody who had fought in the war, but it was just so sad and, I can’t even describe it.  Anyways I will be reviewing the book Chaos of Stars and the info, review and everything else will be down below ↓. Hope you enjoy!

P.S. Extra information about Egyptian Mythology will also be below.

P.S.S. Thank you to Emma Right for being out first follower on Bloglovin’

Title: The Chaos of Stars

Author: Kiersten White

Pages: 288

Genre: Paranormal Fantasy, Love & Romance

Publisher: Harper Teen

Release Date: September 10, 2013

Reading Level: Young Adult & up

*Caution: spoilers in this review!

Synopsis 

Isadora''s family is seriously screwed up.

Of course, as the human daughter of Egyptian gods, that pretty much comes with the territory. She''s also stuck with parents who barely notice her, and a house full of relatives who can''t be bothered to remember her name. After all, they are going to be around forever-and she''s a mere mortal.

Isadora''s sick of living a life where she''s only worthy of a passing glance, and when she has the chance to move to San Diego with her brother, she jumps on it. But Isadora''s quickly finding that a "normal" life comes with plenty of its own epic complications-and that there''s no such thing as a clean break when it comes to family. Much as she wants to leave her past behind, she can''t shake the ominous dreams that foretell destruction for her entire family. When it turns out there may be truth in her nightmares, Isadora has to decide whether she can abandon her divine heritage after all.

                                              My Thoughts

I was very very very very excited to read this book at first when I found it at the library. It was about a mortal girl named Isadora, whose family was a bunch of immortal gods and goddesses, not just any gods, Egyptian gods and goddesses. The Egyptians have always been kind of a mystery I guess, we know the key points of their history and religion but there aren't really any details (like most ancient history), which makes even more interesting and intriguing. Added to that I have always been interested in story plots about mortals being related to immortals. It has always been an interesting topic in my opinion because well, it could be true but it most likely isn't.

At the beginning of the book Isadora, the main character and the narrator makes it seem like her goddess mother; Isis, is ignorant and a horrible mother in general. Isadora’s father Osiris is kind but has always been in the background really, and wasn't really ever involved in her life. To sum it all up Isadora’s family is seriously screwed up but that can be expected if you family consists of million year old gods and goddesses. Isadora started to really “rebel” against her parents around her early tween years (9-12 yr old) after she figured out that the room her parents gave her to paint and decorate as her own was really a…tomb! Dun dun dun! After she figured that out it all kind of went downhill from there, it didn’t really help that Isadora’s mother had a child every twenty years. It gave the impression that Isis only had mortal children so that she could have “followers” that would pray to her every day, which Isadora refused to do.

Surprisingly Isadora’s family finds out that Isis is pregnant again, four years early! This angers Isadora and reminds her that she is replaceable and that her family doesn't actually love her, or so she thinks. Suddenly Isis and Isadora start to have weird and frightening dreams, which is a sign that something bad will happen soon. To protect her daughter Isis decides to send Isadora to live with her brother Sirus, and Isadora jumps at the chance to get away from her crazy family. When she arrives at San Diego, she does most things that her mother would disapprove of, like eating sugar, junk food, cold foods, etc. Unfortunately she can’t completely escape her old life, her mother had volunteered her at the San Diego museum to watch the transportation of her family donation of “rare” and “valuable” artifacts. In San Diego Isadora finally is able to live her somewhat normal, sixteen year old mortal life. Along the way she learns about love, friendship and family.

Don’t worry, I won’t spoil the end, even though I spoiled everything else (sorry!) I did enjoy this book but I wouldn't say it was one of my favorites. In my opinion it had gotten a little confusing between the relationship between Isadora and her mother. Sure it changes throughout the book, which is expected, but at the beginning of the book Isadora held a bitter hatred for her mother, but when she arrives at San Diego it’s almost as if Isadora is conflicted between loving and caring about her mother and hating her mother. There were times when in one chapter Isadora would be hating her mom and family then in the next she would be worried about them and wondering what they were doing. That personally confused me because I was expecting a very deep and bitter hatred toward Isis but I got some of that mixed with love and care, which can also be expected. That is pretty much the only thing I hated about the book. Although I didn't really like Isadora at the beginning, she was a little bratty and immature but she grew on me. The more I read the more I kind of understood what she was going through with an overbearing parent.  I loved Isadora’s new found friends; Tyler and Scott though, they were loud and hilarious. Tyler also reminded me of Blondie and when I told her that, she agreed with me after she read a few of Tyler and Isadora’s conversations. On my goodness though! Isadora’s new love interest was the best part, her had me swooning and squealing every time I read about him. He a poet, who writes epic poetry, he has pretty blue eyes, he is a foodie expert, he likes Greek mythology (which I’m obsessed with) and the best part he is a romantic at heart! The attraction between him and Isadora was unbearable I remember wishing that they would get together sooner while I was reading the book.

In conclusion I really did enjoy reading about Isadora’s journey throughout the book, and her thoughts when she was out “finding” herself. I give this book 3.5 poppy's out of 5 poppy's

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- Princess (Jen) ♕ 
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Egyptian Gods & Godesses Information

Isis: The mother of Horus, The wife and sister Osiris, daughter of Geb and Nut, the sister to Set and Nephthysis. She is the godess of magic, marriage, heeling and motherhood. Isis is also the queen of the gods.

Osiris: The father of Horus and Anubis, and the husband and brother to Isis, the son of Geb and Nut, the brother of Nephthysis and Set. He is the god of the underworld and the afterlife.

Horus: The Son of Isis and Osiris, The half brother to Anubis. He is the god of war, sky and falcons. Horus if the king of the gods. (in this book he is also the husband to Hather)

Hather: The daughter of Ra. She is the goddess of love. (in this story she is also the wife to Horus and the goddess of beer and love)

Set: The son of Geb and Nut, the brother to Osiris,Isis, and husband and brother to Nephthysis. god of deserts, storms, evil, and chaos

Nephthysis: Wife to Set, Mother of Anubis, daughter of Geb and Nut, sister to Osiris, Isis and Set.

Anubis: The son of Nephthysis and Osiris, and the half brother to Horus.  He is the god of judgement of life and death.

Read more at http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Egyptian_gods_and_goddesses

Code Name Verity

Hey, it’s Blondie! We haven’t been posting much or I haven’t been posting much, and I apologize for that. We've been really busy with homework and studying and after school activities, but these are all excuses you don’t really want to hear! So I’ll get on with it ;).

Title: Code Name Verity
Author: Elizabeth Wein
Pages: 332
Genre: Teen Fiction, Friendship, War
Publisher: Doubleday Canada
Release Date: May 15 2012
Reading Level: Teen and Young Adult
*Caution: Language

Synopsis
October 11, 1943: A British spy plane crashes in Nazi-occupied France. Its pilot a passenger are best friends. One of the girls has a shot at survival. The other has lost the game before it’s already begun. Harrowing and beautifully written, Code Name Verity is the story of an unforgettable friendship forged in the face of the ultimate evil.

Book Trailer:

                                             My Thoughts
 I got this book mainly because we were doing a book report in class, and I needed a book, I had originally looked at Rose Under Fire (also by Elizabeth Wein), but saw that she had also written this book, and being the person that I am I bought the one that wasn't in hard cover and expensive.

I actually really enjoyed this book, it surprised me since it was about the war, and I hate war, and guns, and blood (don’t ask me how i manage to watch crime shows though...) but really it was just about a really strong friendship. The book happened in two parts, the first (Verity) is in Julia’s point of view. Julia is a spy, she got captured by the Nazis by looking the wrong way when crossing the street. Her story is a ‘confession’ where she really just writes about meeting Maddie, and how they became friends and about their jobs and things like that.

The second part (Kittyhawk) was in Maddie’s point of view, writing journal entries, she explains in detail exactly what happened and how/why. She has to go into hiding after she ‘crash lands’ the plane so the Nazis don’t know she's there. The thing that brings her down the most is that Julia doesn't know that she’s alive and well.
The thing that stands out the most in this book is how descriptive and well told the story is. Wein did an excellent job creating a past for both girls, she told in detail not willing to let any information not be included. When you read the story it was like you were meeting the girls, and they were spilling their whole life story out for you! The fact that I loved was that you didn't really notice that they were in the middle of a war, and you just lived in the moment with them, not worrying what might happen in the end.

 Overall this book is a great heroic story of a two friends that’ll do anything for each other. I’ll give this book a 4 out of 5 because it was very interesting and very well written, it just didn't keep me hooked. I didn't stay up all night reading it, I more or so forced myself to read it, since it was a school project. But it was a very good book, and I recommend it to people, who don’t mind a slow read.

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-Blondie (Stina)

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Twinkling Stars

Hey everybody (if there is anybody)
We will try to post more frequently in the week. I'm so so so so so sorry but this week has just been so hectic with studying, homework, extracurricular activities,etc we weren't able to type up a review. However we are gonna post one of Blondie's (Stina's) poems. Tell us your thoughts on the poem and if you would want more poems posted.

                                    

  Twinkling Stars

  By: Blondie (Stina)

Watching, gazing, wishing on the stars.

I sit here and stare,

at the dark night sky.

My eyes playing tricks,

as the stars start to wink,

greeting me.

They twinkle and shine,

the spotlight on them.

As they dance to an unknown melody.

They take leaps!

Crossing the sky,

streaking it with dreams,

that it leaves behind.

Quick!

Make a wish!

And send it off.

It’ll top the list!

The starlight intrigues me,

pulling me in.

I want to be part

of this wonderful thing!

I get to show off,

everybody watching me,

as I twirl, and spin.

I jump, mesmerizing thousands of eyes.

Leaving them in awe,

as they dream of a bright life too.

In between the heavens and ground,

I drift around.

Being swept in a gust

taken down from the angles,

up above.

The light of an orange sunrise

brings me back to life.

I find myself wondering where the pretty sights have gone.

I know they’re still there,

keeping eye on me.

Watching me closely.

Hoping one night,

I’ll come back again,

and twinkle in the moonlight.

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Sweet Evil

Hey! I will be reviewing one of my favorite book today; Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins, all the info (pages, publisher, etc) will be down below ↓. Halloween is right around the corner and I still have no idea what I want to be eek! If you have the time I would love to hear what you are going to be or what you are doing if you’re not out trick or treating! Any Halloween costume ideas would be much appreciated and you can comment or email me at; princessjen211101@gmail.com. Hope you enjoy this review!

Title: Sweet Evil

Author: Wendy Higgins

Pages: 464

Genre: Young Adult Fiction – Fantasy (Angels & Demons), Romance

Publisher: HarperTeen

Release Date: May 1st, 2012

Reading Level: Young Adult & up

Synopsis

Embrace the Forbidden

What if there were teens whose lives literally depended on being bad influences?

This is the reality for sons and daughters of fallen angels.

Tenderhearted Southern girl Anna Whitt was born with the sixth sense to see and feel emotions of other people. She's aware of a struggle within herself, an inexplicable pull toward danger, but Anna, the ultimate good girl, has always had the advantage of her angel side to balance the darkness within. It isn't until she turns sixteen and meets the alluring Kaidan Rowe that she discovers her terrifying heritage and her willpower is put to the test. He's the boy your daddy warned you about. If only someone had warned Anna. Forced to face her destiny, will Anna embrace her halo or her horns?

Sweet Evil Book Trailer:

                                                     

                                             My Thoughts

Sweet Evil is about the lives of the children of fallen angels or “dukes” in the book, each one of the twelve “dukes” or fallen angel was in charge of one of the twelve deadly sins (wrath, adultery, substance abuse, lies, gluttony, greed, envy, lust, pride, theft, hatred and murder). The children of the dukes have… special abilities; they could see and feel others emotions and for the females they usually had another special ability, like persuasion. The sons and daughters of the “dukes” are supposed to help their fathers by influencing the people around them to do the sin that their father is in charge of.

Anna Whitt (main character) is a sweet, innocent girl, who has always been different from her peers around her. She doesn’t exactly fit in with everybody and she doesn’t know who her mother or her father are. Patti is Anna’s adopted mother who tries to protect her from the harsh world as much as she can. Then there is Jay Anna’s best friend who introduces her to his favorite band. In walks Kaiden a bad boy drummer, he oozes lust and is the boy every girl dreams of. At the beginning, what Anna doesn’t know is that Kaiden is more similar to her then she knows.

Anna is soon revealed her true heritage, which explains her weird powers, and discovers that the mysterious Kaiden is a son of a duke. Surprisingly Anna isn’t the one out there like her, but yet again she is different; her father is a duke and her mother is an angel.  An anonymous message sends these two out on a sudden road trip to L.A. Along the journey Anna peels back the tough layers of Kaiden one day at a time. As they travel together Kaiden’s instinct to do more then play friends rubs onto pure hearted Anna.  

When I first bought this book I was intrigued by its synopsis but I was also reluctant to read it. The synopsis interested me because it had something that are in most books these days but completely different at the same time. The whole teens fighting for their lives thing is quite common these days, but I have never heard of a book where the teens had to be bad influences to survive! What made me reluctant was that, I was very deathly afraid of it being boring and totally cliché. What motivated me to read the book is when my family and I decided to take a road trip ourselves to Seattle and Vancouver, I had brought Sweet Evil and Twilight, and I had finished Twilight on the way there, so I had no other choice then to read Sweet Evil on the way back.  Surprisingly I loved it! I literally couldn’t put it down.  The internal fight Anna had to stay true to herself actually felt realistic. What I thought made Anna’s good girl persona real is that, Higgins didn’t make her a prude. What I loved most about the book though is the tension between Kaiden and Anna; a bad boy and a good girl not exactly original but it is a classic.

Sweet Evil had an interesting mythological blend but wasn't cliche at all! The book was fantastic, I loved that Wendy Higgins didn't shield away from the darker and heavier side of things, it made things a little more interesting. This book had an angel/devil romantic chemistry, that I particularly enjoyed but there were parts of the book that were mysterious or suspenseful. This book was automatically a favorite when I finished it and I couldn't wait to read the sequel Sweet Peril.  I give this 5 out of 5 nail polish bottles.

Princess (Jen) ♕

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